AVES ARDEID^. 



381 



Herodias lence, Salle, P. Z. S. 1857, P- 236. 



Herodias egretta var. ca/i/oniica, Baird, Cass. & Lawr. B. N. Amer. p. 



666 (1858). 

 Herodias alba leitce, Ridgvv. Bull. Ess. Inst. 1874, p. 171. 



General description. 



Size. — Adult male. (P. U. O. C. 4970; Panasoftkee Lake, Sumpter 

 County, Florida, 4 January, 1876, W. E. D. Scott.) 

 Total length, 39.5 inches. 

 Wing, 16.2. 

 Culmen, 4.7. 

 Tail, 6.2. 

 Tarsus, 6.4. 



Fig. 201. 



Herodias egretta, adult male. 4970 Princeton University Collection. About ]^ natural size. 



The adult female is smaller than the adult male. 



Color. — Adult male (cited). Entirely pure white. A series of long 

 scapular plumes composed of specially developed feathers having dis- 

 sociated webs, the whole forming together a lace-like train. No head 

 plumes and the feathers of the lower neck broad and soft and not length- 

 ened into pendant plumes. 



Bill : Rich gold yellow. Black or dusky along the culmen. Bare 

 region about eye, pale emerald green. 



Legs and feet : Black. 



Iris : Straw color. 



Adult female breeding. — Not to be distinguished from the adult male 

 at the same season, except that the average individuals are smaller. 



Adtdts ill winter. — Have no ornamental train of plumes, the bare 



